Narrative:

B747-400 cockpit windows not being properly inspected by maintenance. We arrived at the aircraft approximately 35-minutes prior to departure. During our preflight inspections; we discovered defects in cockpit windows 3L (left) and 3R (right). Both windows had delamination and cracking along the bottom edge. Window 3R also had discoloration in two lower corners. We entered these items into aircraft maintenance computer and advised the station. Maintenance came to the cockpit to inspect the windows and stated that they were acceptable; based upon a review of pictures sent to maintenance control. After a post-flight review of reference documents; I believe that these defects may not be deferrable in accordance with boeing fleet team digest article 747-400-ftd-56-05001 (vinyl cracks at edge of metal insert; vinyl fail-safe interlayer cracking coming off of metal insert edge). According to the boeing document; all damages shown require window replacement. I am concerned that maintenance is not properly inspecting the cockpit windows. Had maintenance properly inspected the windows when the aircraft arrived; these defects would have been discovered prior to our finding them. This might have prevented an unnecessary delay. I am also concerned that flight crews (mine specifically) are being blamed for departure delays such as this one when the problem is actually a failure of maintenance to properly inspect the aircraft. There is a great amount of pressure being placed upon flight crews to ignore such defects; and it appears that maintenance is inappropriately deferring or ignoring no-go defects in the interest of on-time departures. However; I believe that I must not succumb to these pressures because it is my ethical and legal responsibility to report these defects in accordance with the fars and the flight operations manual (fom).

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: During a B747-400 preflight; Captain discovered delamination; cracking and discoloration on cockpit windows. Concerns about pressure on flight crews to ignore such defects and that Maintenance is inappropriately deferring or ignoring NO-GO defects in the interest of on-time departures were also noted.

Narrative: B747-400 COCKPIT WINDOWS NOT BEING PROPERLY INSPECTED BY MAINTENANCE. We arrived at the aircraft approximately 35-minutes prior to departure. During our preflight inspections; we discovered defects in cockpit Windows 3L (Left) and 3R (Right). Both windows had delamination and cracking along the bottom edge. Window 3R also had discoloration in two lower corners. We entered these items into aircraft maintenance computer and advised the Station. Maintenance came to the cockpit to inspect the windows and stated that they were acceptable; based upon a review of pictures sent to Maintenance Control. After a post-flight review of reference documents; I believe that these defects may not be deferrable in accordance with Boeing Fleet Team Digest article 747-400-FTD-56-05001 (vinyl cracks at edge of metal insert; vinyl fail-safe interlayer cracking coming off of metal insert edge). According to the Boeing document; all damages shown require window replacement. I am concerned that Maintenance is not properly inspecting the cockpit windows. Had Maintenance properly inspected the windows when the aircraft arrived; these defects would have been discovered prior to our finding them. This might have prevented an unnecessary delay. I am also concerned that flight crews (mine specifically) are being blamed for departure delays such as this one when the problem is actually a failure of Maintenance to properly inspect the aircraft. There is a great amount of pressure being placed upon flight crews to ignore such defects; and it appears that Maintenance is inappropriately deferring or ignoring NO-GO defects in the interest of on-time departures. However; I believe that I must not succumb to these pressures because it is my ethical and legal responsibility to report these defects in accordance with the FARs and the Flight Operations Manual (FOM).

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.